A case study of flexible solutions to transport demand in a deregulated environment

Since public transport deregulation in the UK the provision of solutions to transport demand in areas of dispersed demand has been met by local authorities’ attempts to “fill gaps” in the commercial public transport network, whilst the voluntary sector has addressed the needs of more specialised travel. Over the last five years more innovative solutions have been enabled by the development of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), which allow more flexible transport services in terms of time and space. In addition, new ways of thinking about the provision of what might be considered public transport has led to more flexible transport modes becoming available, permitting the general public on education contract services, the use of taxis for shared public transport and the provision of vehicles enabling access to work. However, these innovations tend to operate independently leading to overlap, gaps and misunderstandings about the purpose, delivery and receipt of services. To address these issues, future public transport services will need wider area network planning, greater co-operation between service providers (e.g. in the form of partnerships) and improved understanding of passenger requirements. The case study of Northumberland presented in this paper embodies many of the problems faced by residents in rural areas of the UK to-day and illustrates diverse solutions that have been made to address these challenges.